Wings May Have Finally Figured Out ‘Retooling’ Challenge in Win vs. Fever
Azzi Fudd missed five games before it was announced that she would have to undergo a knee procedure and miss the rest of the season. The Wings are also still without Aziaha James, who went down with a leg injury just after Fudd went out, and Jessica Shepard missed two games.
Shepard is back already, but the Dallas Wings have still had to figure out how to replace their best perimeter defender and 3-point shooter. It’s been a process, as the Wings have tried four different replacements in the starting lineup—James, Odyssey Sims, Alysha Clark, and Awak Kuier.
“When you lose a player like Azzi, who was the number-one pick, and we’ve relied so much on both ends of the floor and then a dynamic guard that was your first guard off the bench wing-wise in Aziaha James, now you’re kind of retooling a lot of things that you’re doing on the offensive and defensive end,” head coach Jose Fernandez said after a 91-85 win against the Fever, per a video on the Wings’ YouTube channel. It was the Wings’ second win since Fudd has been out and the only one against a contender.
Against the Fever, it looked like the Wings really found something with Awak Kuier at the small forward spot in a very tall lineup next to Jessica Shepard and Alanna Smith. Kuier is a different kind of defender than Fudd is, but she causes plenty of disruption and gave the Fever real trouble. Kuier is 6’6”. Playing her on the wing forced the Fever into a zone or to defend her with a much smaller player. Her size and length are something other teams will also struggle with if Fernandez continues to play her on the wing.
The Wings didn’t get to see as much of this supersized lineup as they would have liked because Alanna Smith was in foul trouble, and they still have to prove that the success they found without Fudd and James against the Fever is sustainable for the rest of the season. Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing move with tons of defensive potential.
Awak Kuier played a phenomenal game
Kuier made the most of her nineteenth start of the season. She played a season-high 36 minutes and finished the game with 11 points on 4-8 shooting from the field and 2-6 from deep, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 7 blocks. She was flirting with a triple-double with points, rebounds, and blocks, which is beyond impressive, and set a new record for most blocks in a game in Wings history.
“I thought she was amazing tonight,” Fernandez said in the postgame media availability. “I think her athleticism and her versatility coming off her playing on the wing caused a lot of disruption. And the blocks, the other ones that she didn’t get, she contested a lot of shots.”
Stephanie White also gave Kuier her flowers. “Awak, she kept us from scoring in the paint,” White said, per a video on the Fever’s YouTube channel, when asked about what factored into the differential in paint points.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.